• Sideburns, beards and long hair no longer will be reliable indicators that Mark Trail characters are villains.

• Mark no longer is frightened of intimacy with his wife, Cherry, and both of them will occasionally show some skin.

• Snakes and other slithery creatures are permitted in the Sunday and daily strips.

• The days of giant geese and talking squirrels are over.

I mentioned in a recent column that my favorite Morning Call comic strip, which I have been defending from its many detractors for years, now is drawn by a new artist who has injected a grittier feel, more exotic locales, more exciting animal attacks and a sexier vibe, including Cherry in a bikini and Mark frequently shirtless and ripped.

But if you think Cherry Trail looked hot in her bikini while she and Mark cruised on their yacht during this latest, typically preposterous, plot line, you should have seen one of cartoonist James Allen's original drawings.

"Let me tell you about that shot," Allen told me recently from Jekyll Island, Ga., where he was vacationing. "When the bull shark scared Mark and he climbed back on the boat, I wanted her to be tipsy when Mark comes out of the water. Cherry has never looked this good. She's lying there on her towel, and she's got this come hither look in her face and a glass of wine in her hand. It's a piece of art that's gorgeous, Bill. She says, 'Honey, did you see anything down there worth taking a picture of?'"

He emailed it off to King Syndicate, but much as they like his more modern take on the strip, they nervously responded, "We think that's a bit too risque," so he toned it down.

No "Fifty Shades of Trail" here.

I mentioned last year that I was interested in talking to Allen, who had recently taken over from longtime cartoonist Jack Elrod and, in my opinion at the time, was turning this into a Chick Strip as he tried to establish Mark and Cherry's romantic bonafides after decades of asexuality.

My fears were unfounded. Mark went off to Africa and soon was up to his khaki shirt in snakes, rhinos, lions, elephants and other exotic animals. More recently, we've gotten the aforementioned bull shark, an alligator and one heck of a boat explosion.

Allen, who discovered I had been defending him in print, called to thank me, which gave me a chance to get the whole story on how he became the custodian of the great Mark Trail franchise.

Allen lives about 45 minutes from Elrod's home in the Atlanta suburbs — and in the same Georgia town that was home to the strip's creator, Ed Dodd. "I'm the guy who brought Mark Trail home to Gainesville," Allen told me in his Southern drawl. "I truly grew up around it."

Allen dreamed of cartooning success, but until he met Elrod in 2004, Allen's efforts mostly consisted of self-published books about "dinosaurs, ray guns and nekkid chicks." He was working for UPS when he bumped into a high school buddy at a local coffee shop — and discovered that the guy knew Jack Elrod and that the cartoonist might need an assistant in a couple of years.

"I said, 'Look, that sounds like what I want to do.'" He ended up visiting Elrod's big three-story house in Sandy Springs, expressed his interest and Elrod took him under his wing, although Allen didn't get to contribute to the strip — and then, only in a very small way — until 2007.

Allen's role slowly grew as Elrod began experiencing some medical problems. By 2013, Allen was doing most of the strips, and when Elrod decided to begin planning his retirement late that year, he recommended Allen to the syndicate.

An excited Allen ended up on the phone with King Features' editor of comics, whom he told, "I've waited most of my life to talk to you!"

Allen, now 47, ended up with the job, and when Elrod retired in 2014 on the day after his 90th birthday, Allen took over and began steering the strip in his own direction. He said he chose his first story line — Mark got a flat tire and was chased by a crazed bear — specifically so he could show the intrepid outdoors writer without his shirt on, something Allen has made a point of continuing from time to time.

And while Elrod was partial to squirrels and geese, Allen wanted lions, rhinos — and especially snakes, which his mentor had kept out of the strip. "We decided a long time ago that a lot of people read paper at breakfast," Elrod had explained to him, "and I don't think snakes are good breakfast conversation."

Heck with that. In Allen's next story, Mark went on an African safari, where he discovered a rock python attacking his female traveling companion. "Mark literally beheads it with a knife," Allen said.

Snakes at breakfast and shirtless Mark won't be the only changes, as I noted at the beginning. Still, unless Trail is launched into space or thrown back in time, I think it's safe to say Allen won't get to work on any dinosaurs or ray guns. And certainly no nekkid chicks.

He has no complaints, though. As he told me happily, "It's like I'm dreaming, making a living doing this."